


One Final Sin

by KenshinSusano



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst, Dark Undertones, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Canon, Riku is so much more troubled than he should be, Romance, Sora isn't as stupid as he seems, and xehanort is definitely a problem, any more and the plot is spoiled
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-07 09:37:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1894179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KenshinSusano/pseuds/KenshinSusano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sora is plagued by troubles after the Mark of Mastery exam, and Riku takes it upon himself to fix it. It's not going to be easy, and he knows it. After meeting with many new allies and making plenty of new enemies, a new epic is underway for the two keyblade masters as they roam the universe to try to solve issues once and for all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Final Sin

One Final Sin

* * *

 

The sound of the waves crashing against the sand on Destiny Island always were a little bit cathartic to the brunette, his feet lightly buried under a layer of warm sand. He was a little bit thankful that Kairi had gone to catch some fish for a small dinner that day, not to mention that he hadn’t seen Riku around since their Mark of Mastery exam. The small bit of last words they’d shared after the duo left Master Yen Sid.

_“Sora… I’m sorry it turned out this way, I know you’re more suited for the mastery than I am. I failed to the darkness, and I don’t deserve this.” Riku started, before Sora had the chance to stop him, his words rushing out a little bit before he felt the brunette place a hand on his shoulder, suddenly aware of how tall he had grown. He heard a small chuckle from the younger man._

_“No Riku, you deserve this much more than I do. If anything, I failed by letting that Xehanort guy get to me so easily. I almost lost myself back there, and if it weren’t for you, I’d be totally gone.” Sora remarked, quickly adjusting his gaze down to the floor to hide his look of shame. Riku didn’t mention how Sora was the one who defeated the crazy old man, or at least pushed him back into hibernation. He still hated the fact that Xehanort had his grip tightly on Sora, due to this Ventus kid or whatever. The older man still had no idea how to deal with the sudden information dump he had received in the last few hours._

_Flashes of some of the memories he tried to repress came bubbling to the surface, like the time he had been possessed by Ansem at the old Hollow Bastion castle, Sora so eager to give away his own heart to free Kairi’s that he would turn himself into a heartless. Riku never felt so upset in his life, that he had turned Sora to that decision, could still remember how every ounce of his soul screamed at his body to stop his attacks on the brunette, but the darkness controlling him wouldn’t let him._

_“Sora, I promise if you had lost yourself, I wouldn’t let the darkness touch you.” Riku muttered, almost inaudible to the brunette who seemed lost in thought. For all he thought Sora was a dork and a bit on the dim side, he was surprisingly thoughtful at times._

_“What if you fall to the darkness though, Riku?” Sora looked up, his blue eyes gleaming with something Riku never thought he’d see in his best friend and rival’s eyes: Fear. He was truly afraid something was going to happen to him and he would be unable to stop it. Sora’s greatest weakness, really, that he would care more about what happened to people around him before his own well-being._

_“I won’t, Sora. I haven’t yet, after these last couple of years, and I still won’t. I’ve got something to protect and I won’t let the darkness take it.” He reassured his friend, smiling at the way that those blue eyes steeled themselves with determination again. “So you go back and protect Kairi and I’ll work on finding a way to keep Xehanort down, Kay?” he grinned, ruffling Sora’s hair a bit, earning a scoff from the younger man._

_“Of course, jerk. You don’t even have to ask.” Sora scowled a bit, unable to help the steady smile that was taking over his temporary annoyance. “Besides, Someone’s got to be there when you can’t do it.” He grinned._

Of course, this was almost a year ago and yet still no word from Riku. His last letter to him arrived three days before the New Year, and had simply said “Still Looking, no luck. Riku.”  And despite everything Sora kind of believed that Riku had just given up. He had started hearing that eerily familiar voice of the old Keyblade master in the back of his head, whispers of betrayal and deceit having become just another bit of nonsense to add to the sort-of constant white noise in Sora’s mind. He had already had King Mickey help him put a sort of barrier up around that part of his mind, but it was starting to deteriorate due to lack of upkeep.

“What are you staring off into the distance for, dork?” Kairi’s voice surprised him, making him jump and sand spewing everywhere from the sudden dislodge of feet. She smiled at his undignified yelp as she held up a rather full bucket of fish.

“Just kinda thinking, really. About all that’s happened in just two years, ya know?” Sora sighed, falling back onto the sand and feeling the grain against his back and the sun on his chest. “It’s bad enough as is. I mean sure we’re sorta heroes and saviors of the multiverse, but if you look at it the right way, we’re also most of the reason the worlds were in danger in the first place. If I hadn’t gone poking my stupid nose in business that wasn’t mine, Most of those worlds would have been just fine, their heart unexposed for the heartless and all.” He contemplated the truth behind his words, guilt taking over him for a bit. He saw Kairi’s expression soften a bit as she sat next to him, a hand on his shoulder to try to take the burden away.

“Well, all that matters is that we fixed what we did wrong, really. We may have been a part of the whole mess, but if in the end there’s not as much of a mess, it’s success in the long run, right?” She smiled warmly at her childhood friend, noticing the way his eyes lit up a little bit, some of his usual enthusiasm sparking back up. She also noticed the way his hand unconsciously went to the bracelet that was now permanently around his right wrist, a way for him to be aware that the Keyblade was always close to him, regardless of where he happened to be.

She knew she had to get that story from him at some point, knowing it involved the old mage Yen Sid and all, but that was a task for another day. She offered a helping hand off the sand after she stood, jerking her head a bit in the direction of their tree house, the old land-locked boat making a perfect place to form a spot to just be at ease. She was briefly met with flashes of Namine’s memory of Twilight Town, smiling softly as she heard the young girl’s voice speak to her.

 _“He is worried about his friend, no?”_ She had asked, a small voice in the back of her head that signaled that her Nobody wasn’t entirely gone, more a guardian angel now.

 _“Yeah, Riku hasn’t shown up in almost a year. And he said he’d find a way to protect Sora.”_ Kairi answered as she and Sora walked up the winding stairs to the upper deck of the boat-house.

 _“Roxas is also restless, saying that there are a lot of people in Sora’s head.”_ The response came a few minutes later, as Kairi strung the fish up on a line, focusing a bit to cast the Fire Magic that had become all too familiar to her on them, the heat flash-cooking them quickly. She didn’t have to answer this time because it was just an observation that Namine had, and she knew she didn’t expect a response.

She knew Sora had a bunch of things rattling around in his brain, could tell by the way his face would occasionally betray his inner workings, or the way that she’d find him muttering things to himself, pacing around the beach. Part of her wanted to just chalk it up to being stir-crazy like they were a couple of years ago, his wanderlust taking over him a bit as he felt the need to travel away to different worlds with his sense of adventure leading him wherever it pleased.

“You know, sometimes I’m jealous you and Riku are both so good with magic. I can’t get it to work that well.” Sora pouted a little, snapping Kairi out of her thoughts as he quickly dug into his rather fitting meal.

“You can use magic just fine.” She said, before even really thinking of the few times she had seen him trying to use a simple fire spell with Donald to have it fizzle out weakly after a few seconds. “well, just fine as far as the basics go.” She added with a chuckle. She rolled her eyes as Sora pouted at her.

“Maybe you could teach me a bit better while we wait for Riku?” He grinned widely, rather interested in learning more of how to control magic and use it to its fullest effect. He had the most basic grasp on the elemental spells, with light being his strongest suit, oddly enough. But he had easily mastered a version of the teleportation that the Organization had used to get between worlds, something King Mickey had taught him. He mostly stayed on the Islands but would occasionally leave for a while in a flash of light, probably off to Radiant Garden or Twilight Town to engage in some restless wandering; He never could get it to take him anywhere else. 

“Maybe, But I doubt it’d be as easy as you think.” Kairi chuckled again, shaking her head as Sora spoke around mouthfuls of fish.

“I can learn quickly!” he whined, picking a bone out of his teeth quickly with a wince. “You should see how quickly I learned to wield the Keyblade.” He grinned.

“Well, the Keyblade is something ingrained into your soul. You should have a good idea how to use it because it’s part of you, stupid.” She rolled her eyes, shaking her head in disbelief at Sora’s naivety.  “Why do you want to learn magic all of a sudden?” She turned her best inquisitive scowl at the brunette suddenly, causing him to throw his hands up in mock-surrender.

“Just because. I feel if I can get better at Magic I can work on figuring out a way to repair and replace the seal that the King has put on _him._ ” He sighed, tossing the remains of a long-eaten fish over the boat. “Plus it’ll also help if for some reason I can’t summon the Keyblade, just like…” He trailed off, his first time in Hollow Bastion flashing before his eyes as a taunting reminder that the Keyblade could just be taken from him by the right person.

“Well, I’ll see what I can do, but first we need to do a perimeter scan for any more Heartless. I found a small group of them hiding in a tree a couple of days ago and I don’t want them to multiply suddenly.” Kairi nodded, standing quickly as they finished their meal. Sora nodded and moved to hop down from the boat’s lower levels, easily jumping down level after level on the small ledges that had protruded from the sides. How he could make such a dangerous course look so easy, Kairi would still never understand.

* * *

 

Riku sighed a bit as he traversed the worlds, his Keyblade-bike-thing humming gently under him as he wandered the space between. He was still getting used to the whole Keyblade Master Pros and cons, but he still needed to figure something out about Sora and Xehanort. He had heard rumors from Yen Sid that there was a world that showed up every few years, a sort of ghost remnant of an old legend. He didn’t have much information on it other than it was a little bit like The World that Never Was, as imposing and vast as that place had been, Riku dreaded to deal with this new place if he ever found it. Master Yen Sid had said that it should show up in the next year, and that was why he found himself in the empty void.

He hadn’t been expecting anything spectacular to happen, but before he knew it, he was slamming into a small bit of a force field as a shimmering golden castle appeared before him, the energy surging from the force field pushing clouds out of the way. “Great. Just speak of the devil, and it shall appear.” Riku muttered to himself as he made his way, activating the landing protocol of the Keyblade-space-bike.

He hadn’t expected to be greeted with halls of gilt and marble, the imposing white and gold décor making him feel small, like he was corrupting this place with his mere presence.  He barely had time to dodge the blade swiped at his head with every intention of cutting it off his shoulders. _So they’re using actual swords._ He thought quickly, bringing his keyblade at the ready. He heard someone shout something, but the adrenaline that surged through him blocked out most of it, only ready to strike if someone struck first.

“Hold your weapons, cadets!” A new voice rang out across the field, and Riku realized he was surrounded by men and women in the familiar armor of the Keyblade Wielders. He wondered why they were using swords, but upon closer inspection, it was just a modified keyblade, meant to do damage to humans and heartless alike.

“For what reason would a Keyblade wielder be bathed in the darkness?” The slightly older man, his black hair pulled back into a topknot reminiscent of some of the samurai he had seen in his voyages through the worlds, had acknowledged him and his shame. “Is this some ploy of Xehanort again?” He growled, his own keyblade summoned in a flash of brilliant light. “Answer quickly boy before you feel the full fury of Eraqus.”

“It’s quite a long story, possession and all, but I’m here because of that man, yes. More specifically, how to get rid of him once and for all.” Riku stood his ground, hand tightening around The Way to the Dawn. The old man, Eraqus, kept his steely gaze level on Riku, mouth pressed into a tight frown.

“You know of the traitor? Nevermind that, Why are you able to wield the Keyblade still despite how deep into the darkness you are?” He could feel the venom in the old man’s question. He knew he was practically oozing the darkness, and that he could never rid himself of its taint.

“It’s a VERY long story.” Riku repeated, sighing as he let his Keyblade disappear into wherever it went. “Now if you don’t mind, I’ve got to find a way to get Xehanort’s bullshit emblem thing off of my friend.” He all but growled, eyes narrowed as a silent challenge. “And this is the only place that has any information about any ability to do just that.” 

He ignored the fact that he had flashes of memories of someone he had just barely met, could feel bones cracking under the blow of the Not-Him in his mind. He shook his head slightly to try to push the memories back to his subconscious, making a note to try to figure them out later. He prioritized saving Sora above all else, and he didn’t know what he would do if he lost his best friend.

“Well it seems we share a mostly common goal. Men stand down.” The old man finally put his keyblade away, reaching a hand out to offer a handshake.  Riku took the offer, albeit warily and for good reason. He could easily feel the way the darkness was pulsing, itching to find its way out and to protect him, but he didn’t let it, lest it start a whole new war here. It didn’t help that he could feel the same darkness bubbling underneath the surface of most of the walls in the pristine gold-and-white castle.

A small part of him chuckled a bit at some of his wayward thoughts. _King Mickey would be impressed, and maybe even jealous._ He smiled a little inwardly as he imagined the mouse working to make his own castle better.

“So you are a keyblade master, I assume?” The old man snapped Riku out of his revelry. He leveled a scowl and a nod at the man.

“Yeah, just passed the exam about a year ago.” He answered quickly, eying the guards still standing around him. “Mind calling off your dogs?” he said with more venom in his words than he really meant. He was relieved when Eraqus decided to laugh at his remark rather than take offense.

“Of course of course. Stand down men. Now, I believe we should properly introduce ourselves. My name is Master Eraqus, the ruler of the Land of Departure.” He grinned, giving a slightly grandiose bow as he introduced himself. Riku couldn’t help the deadpan stare he leveled at the older man.

“I’m Riku, Keyblade Master and Master of Darkness.” He sighed, mouth set in a tight grimace. He knew he didn’t need to mention his status as a master of the darkness; his keyblade did that for him. He knew the small sad smile on Eraqus’ face was more pity than actual sadness.  Riku knew that he needed to get down to business and quick before the world disappeared.

“I’d love to hear about how you mastered the darkness, Riku, but we must go into the academy. Maybe there’s something there of Xehanort’s that might just be able to help find a way to get rid of him for good.” The old man nodded, turning quickly on his heel and stalking through the large hallways.

Riku had no idea exactly what he was getting himself into this time, but he had every intention of seeing this adventure out.

* * *

 

 

 


End file.
